Halmekangas v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:

Stephen Halmekangas sued ANPAC Louisiana Insurance Company and its agent Stephen Harelson in Louisiana state court. All parties were Louisiana domiciliaries, and no federal question was presented. Facing the hurdle that the district court would not have had original jurisdiction had the suit been first filed there, defendants removed to federal court, asserting supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a) — on the idea that the state case related to an action pending in federal court. The federal district court denied Halmekangas’s efforts to…